Vndbreview

Thanks for lowering my expectations. MajiKoi is one of my favorite VNs because every character was memorable and got a decent amount of screentime (before the roster got bloated in S), so the other reviews saying Tsuyokiss is even better would overhype me.

After finishing it, i respect how it kinda tried to deconstruct moege (in the sense that you wouldn't predict the heroines' personalities based on how they look on a cover), but a lot of the routes just slowed down to a crawl after the confession. The characters and humor (that is up my alley) make it a "good, but not great" VN for me.

Edited November 28, 2019 by onorub

Ok, Kvan's viewpoint on this game is fairly similar to the one I had the very first time I attempted to play Tsuyokiss (needless to say, abortive).  To be blunt, the greatest attraction of the Tsuyokiss series is that it is a very retro-style charage series based in the Majikoi universe.  I say retro-style because it has all the hallmarks of early moege/charage. 

1.  A tsundere

2.  A crazy osananajimi next door

3.  A yandere extra heroine

4.  An arrogant rich girl heroine

5.  A proliferation of unreasonably violent heroines

There are a few stand-out points to the series.

1.  The protagonist's best friend is a gigolo who survives by selling himself to older women.

2.  The series IS a series, and it is best taken that way (essentially, play only the heroines you want then move on to the next game, lol).

3.  You get to see the original cast as adults in the second half of the series.

4.  Cameos from the characters of Tsuyokiss make brief appearances in Majikoi A

 

As for quality... I think Kvan goes too far.  Tsuyokiss isn't the best charage I've ever played, but it is still a charage.  As such, my advice to anyone considering playing it is don't compare it to Majikoi (worst possible mistake, since the themes and genres are different).  If you like charage, it might be worth playing it.  If you don't like charage, don't bother.

I guess my mistakes were:

1. Having high expectations and playing it blindly.

2. Playing it alongside Saihate no Ima and comparing the two absolutely different games.

3. Following a formed tsundere image as a cute small-to-middle height girl. All tsuyokiss tsundere are tall and not cute.

I really take pure charage badly. Need a circle of friends or some clear plotline to follow. Or at least a strong funny common route. Unfortunately, Tsuyokiss common route is both short, not funny, and it barely touches each heroine without really having time to present them well. In individual routes all the other heroines present vaguely, there is not enough inter-communication between heroines and atmosphere building. All the best charage are still ahead, I hope to adapt to this genre eventually.

13 hours ago, kivandopulus said:

I guess my mistakes were:

1. Having high expectations and playing it blindly.

2. Playing it alongside Saihate no Ima and comparing the two absolutely different games.

3. Following a formed tsundere image as a cute small-to-middle height girl. All tsuyokiss tsundere are tall and not cute.

I really take pure charage badly. Need a circle of friends or some clear plotline to follow. Or at least a strong funny common route. Unfortunately, Tsuyokiss common route is both short, not funny, and it barely touches each heroine without really having time to present them well. In individual routes all the other heroines present vaguely, there is not enough inter-communication between heroines and atmosphere building. All the best charage are still ahead, I hope to adapt to this genre eventually.

Unfortunately, beginning around the same time, the rate of charage to other non-nukige VNs tips definitively in favor of charage.  It is only in the last few years, as the demographics and economic realities have changed, that things have begun to balance out somewhat.

One thing that I think vndb lacks is a 'pure slice-of-life' tag... because for people who want to avoid that sort of thing (or the reverse) that tag would be useful.